Sculptures Intersecting with the Sky: Elgiz Museum’s 18th Terrace Exhibition “Connections Intersections”

If you wish to break the lethargy of the summer months with art, step away from the pace of the city, and take an artistic breath toward the sky, there is a wonderful open-air oasis waiting for you in Maslak. Holding the title of Türkiye’s first contemporary art museum and celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Elgiz Museum continues to welcome art lovers without slowing down with the 18th edition of its Terrace Exhibitions, which has now become a true Istanbul classic. Adding a brand-new rhythm to the city’s skyline among the skyscrapers since June 25, the exhibition themed “Connections Intersections” will continue to engage in dialogue with its audience in the shade of the wind, sun, and clouds until October 17.

Spanning a massive open-air platform of two thousand square meters, the exhibition transforms the viewer from a passive observer trapped between four walls into an active witness of the space and the artwork. The hallmark of the terrace is hidden right here: these large-scale contemporary sculptures displayed outdoors assume a completely different identity with every visit due to the plays of light at different hours of the day, sudden gusts of wind, or changing weather conditions. This year’s “Connections Intersections” theme opens up artists’ inquiries into time, space, boundaries, and the nature-human relationship to discussion through the powerful three-dimensional language of sculpture. Unities born from contrasts, encounters born from tension, and technological transformations interact directly with the urban fabric, establishing a multi-layered bridge between form and meaning.

Realized through the project design of Haşim Nur Gürel and Can Elgiz as part of the museum’s 10th-anniversary events, the Terrace Exhibitions have created an invaluable legacy through their contribution to the visibility of sculpture art in the public sphere. In this year’s edition of the project, which has brought more than 500 works by over 300 artists together with the sky to date, a rigorous selection process took place. The advisory board, consisting of Rahmi Aksungur, Nilüfer Ergin, Meliha Sözeri, Ömer Emre Yavuz, and Can Elgiz, brought together the works of 31 talented sculptors selected from among 190 applicants to the open call on the terrace. Moving from singulars to plurals and from differences to contact, this curatorial approach very successfully melts different generations and production practices of contemporary sculpture art into a shared context.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to visit this open-air museum—located at the top of Beybi GİZ Plaza on Maslak Meydan Sokak, away from the city’s noise yet right in its heart—over the past two months, you should set your course here before autumn fully shows its face. Looking down on the hustle and bustle of the city while losing yourself among the shadows of the sculptures will refresh your mind.